The symptoms of a bloated stomach can be caused by many different things, so it’s not always that easy to pinpoint the exact cause of your discomfort. More often than not though, the culprit is an inadequate diet that needs to be adjusted in order for the problem to go away.
Now, inadequate diet is a rather broad term and it can encompass a multitude of issues, so to try and keep things as simple as possible, today I’m only going to focus on the most common diet inadequacies that can lead to a bloated stomach.
Slow Down
The speed at which you eat your food can have a drastic effect on your digestion and will very often lead to bloatedness. The reason behind this is simple; when you swallow food, food isn’t all you’re actually swallowing. What also goes down your oesophagus and into your stomach is a bunch of air that just happens to be stuck between the food and your bowels at that moment, and since it has nowhere to go but down, that’s exactly where it will go.
Carbonated drinks can make this even worse, because they actually contain added air (carbon dioxide) that the manufacturers put in there to make the drink fizzy. So be sure to avoid these at all costs if you suffer from a bloated stomach and eat as slow as you possibly can. Not only will this make you less bloated, but you’ll also find that it’s harder to overeat this way, and this means that you’ll end up consuming fewer calories in total.
Skip Supper
I have no actual scientific backing for this one, instead it’s something that I’ve learned from my own experience. I never eat after 6pm, period. I find that this gives my body plenty of time to take care of and break down all the food that I’ve eaten that day and allows my stomach some time to rest and expel all the toxins before having to do any more work. I’ve been doing this for years and it’s helped me significantly alleviate all my digestion-related issues, simply because I’m cutting my stomach some slack every day.
More Fibre
Fibre is the portion of the plant that the human body isn’t able to digest, and yet ironically it’s essential in maintaining good digestive health in individuals of all ages. Fibre is actually a type of sugar, just like fructose or glucose, but instead of being transformed into energy within our organism it stays within our bowels and attaches itself to the bile in our intestines, making it easier for the body to expel it.
I personally find that I have to take bathroom breaks twice as often and pass food with very little effort when I incorporate more fibre into my diet, so I’ve lately been trying to introduce as much of it as I can.
No Fast Food
If you want to ditch your stomach problems permanently, you’re going to have to start cooking your own food. There’s no way around it. This is because food that you buy at a fast food joint of any kind is probably loaded with a ton of excess sugar, trans-saturated fats and all manner of potentially harmful additives and artificial sweeteners that are simply not good for your digestive tract.
And the good news is that cooking doesn’t have to be as much of a chore as people make it out to be. Nowadays, there are services that literally let you choose the type of meal you want to make, and then deliver the ingredients and the recipe to your doorstep in perfectly sized portions. Then all you have to do is follow a simple recipe and in less than 30 minutes you’ve got your very own home-cooked meal with extremely little effort.
Stress
Finally, a major factor in all kinds of stomach-related issues is definitely stress. Stress can cause all kinds of disorders and diseases, but it particularly affects your stomach region. Some people experience extreme nausea when they’re really nervous, which can even cause them to throw up, but even lower levels of stress can have an impact on your digestive function. So try to minimize stress in any way you can, and I’m certain that your stomach will thank you for it.
Monica Nichols is one of the most promising writers at www.diet.st, and apart from writing her main passion in life is designing clothes. In her free time, she likes listening to jazz and spending time with her boyfriend in their hometown of Omaha, Nebraska
